Twenty-five years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s life was first honored with a national holiday and nearly 50 years after the civil rights leader's "I Have a Dream" speech, black and white sports fans alike view the sports world as far more racially progressive and unifying than the rest of society, according to a recent online survey conducted for ESPN.

However, there remains a strong racial divide among those fans about the extent to which African-Americans enjoy equal opportunities in sports, as well as about the degrees of prejudice and discrimination that continue to pervade the sports landscape...

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"Christian America is finally waking up to what fraternities and biker gangs have known for years: hazing works!"

Twenty-five years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s life was first honored with a national holiday and nearly 50 years after the civil rights leader's "I Have a Dream" speech, black and white sports fans alike view the sports world as far more racially progressive and unifying than the rest of society, according to a recent online survey conducted for ESPN.

However, there remains a strong racial divide among those fans about the extent to which African-Americans enjoy equal opportunities in sports, as well as about the degrees of prejudice and discrimination that continue to pervade the sports landscape...

Everyone has equal opportunity because it is 100% based on ability. If you're the best you get paid, etc. as the best. There is no bias based on race. The ONLY prejudice in sports is skill as it should be. That is why sports brings races together. Cause it doesn't matter who you are, just what you do. 2009 census bureau records show there to be 65.0% or 199.3 million White Americans (non-latino) and 12.4% or 38.1 million Black Americans. So sports teams are 65% white and 12% black (give or take)? No way! The proportions are much heavier on the Black side. So for me, there's no less-than-equal opportunity for Blacks. Anyone who thinks that minorities (in sports particularly, we can talk other areas in another thread) have a harder road making it in sports is, IMHO, a product of the American education system.

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Authentic zeal is not directed towards anything but union in Christ, or against anything but our own fallenness.

Twenty-five years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s life was first honored with a national holiday and nearly 50 years after the civil rights leader's "I Have a Dream" speech, black and white sports fans alike view the sports world as far more racially progressive and unifying than the rest of society, according to a recent online survey conducted for ESPN.

However, there remains a strong racial divide among those fans about the extent to which African-Americans enjoy equal opportunities in sports, as well as about the degrees of prejudice and discrimination that continue to pervade the sports landscape...

Everyone has equal opportunity because it is 100% based on ability. If you're the best you get paid, etc. as the best. There is no bias based on race. The ONLY prejudice in sports is skill as it should be. That is why sports brings races together. Cause it doesn't matter who you are, just what you do. 2009 census bureau records show there to be 65.0% or 199.3 million White Americans (non-latino) and 12.4% or 38.1 million Black Americans. So sports teams are 65% white and 12% black (give or take)? No way! The proportions are much heavier on the Black side. So for me, there's no less-than-equal opportunity for Blacks. Anyone who thinks that minorities (in sports particularly, we can talk other areas in another thread) have a harder road making it in sports is, IMHO, a product of the American education system.

From what experience do you speak? Have you ever earned money in a competitive athletic endeavor?

This above suggests that "skill" is easily measured. If you ain't a prodigy or schlub, determining who gets the contract, scholarship, etc. is very complicated and like most things in life nepotism rules.

Twenty-five years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s life was first honored with a national holiday and nearly 50 years after the civil rights leader's "I Have a Dream" speech, black and white sports fans alike view the sports world as far more racially progressive and unifying than the rest of society, according to a recent online survey conducted for ESPN.

However, there remains a strong racial divide among those fans about the extent to which African-Americans enjoy equal opportunities in sports, as well as about the degrees of prejudice and discrimination that continue to pervade the sports landscape...

Everyone has equal opportunity because it is 100% based on ability. If you're the best you get paid, etc. as the best. There is no bias based on race. The ONLY prejudice in sports is skill as it should be. That is why sports brings races together. Cause it doesn't matter who you are, just what you do. 2009 census bureau records show there to be 65.0% or 199.3 million White Americans (non-latino) and 12.4% or 38.1 million Black Americans. So sports teams are 65% white and 12% black (give or take)? No way! The proportions are much heavier on the Black side. So for me, there's no less-than-equal opportunity for Blacks. Anyone who thinks that minorities (in sports particularly, we can talk other areas in another thread) have a harder road making it in sports is, IMHO, a product of the American education system.

From what experience do you speak? Have you ever earned money in a competitive athletic endeavor?

This above suggests that "skill" is easily measured. If you ain't a prodigy or schlub, determining who gets the contract, scholarship, etc. is very complicated and like most things in life nepotism rules.

Personally, no, I've earned no money via athletics. I do know, however, that athletics is ruled by money. And your sports team makes no money being bad. I find it hard to believe there are many owners who would rather not have blacks on their team then have a big old check in the bank. Skill, when it comes to admittance to a professional sport, is not hard to measure. Sit with any scout for five minutes and they'll rattle off exactly what they're looking for. Especially today with things like sabermetrics, it is very easy to quantify someone's performance. And no, nepotism does not rule sports. Maybe at the youth level but there is too much money at stake in the pros to waste on someone's son.

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Authentic zeal is not directed towards anything but union in Christ, or against anything but our own fallenness.

Twenty-five years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s life was first honored with a national holiday and nearly 50 years after the civil rights leader's "I Have a Dream" speech, black and white sports fans alike view the sports world as far more racially progressive and unifying than the rest of society, according to a recent online survey conducted for ESPN.

However, there remains a strong racial divide among those fans about the extent to which African-Americans enjoy equal opportunities in sports, as well as about the degrees of prejudice and discrimination that continue to pervade the sports landscape...

Everyone has equal opportunity because it is 100% based on ability. If you're the best you get paid, etc. as the best. There is no bias based on race. The ONLY prejudice in sports is skill as it should be. That is why sports brings races together. Cause it doesn't matter who you are, just what you do. 2009 census bureau records show there to be 65.0% or 199.3 million White Americans (non-latino) and 12.4% or 38.1 million Black Americans. So sports teams are 65% white and 12% black (give or take)? No way! The proportions are much heavier on the Black side. So for me, there's no less-than-equal opportunity for Blacks. Anyone who thinks that minorities (in sports particularly, we can talk other areas in another thread) have a harder road making it in sports is, IMHO, a product of the American education system.

From what experience do you speak? Have you ever earned money in a competitive athletic endeavor?

This above suggests that "skill" is easily measured. If you ain't a prodigy or schlub, determining who gets the contract, scholarship, etc. is very complicated and like most things in life nepotism rules.

Personally, no, I've earned no money via athletics. I do know, however, that athletics is ruled by money. And your sports team makes no money being bad. I find it hard to believe there are many owners who would rather not have blacks on their team then have a big old check in the bank. Skill, when it comes to admittance to a professional sport, is not hard to measure. Sit with any scout for five minutes and they'll rattle off exactly what they're looking for. Especially today with things like sabermetrics, it is very easy to quantify someone's performance. And no, nepotism does not rule sports. Maybe at the youth level but there is too much money at stake in the pros to waste on someone's son.

OK, no experience then.

Have you ever been scouted? I am guessing from the above, not. Have you ever had a sit down with a scout on behalf of an athlete?

Do you know personally any athletes who made their way through college or earn their living professionally and have discussed how "scouting" works and the politicing involved?

Have you ever attended a university scrambling to avoid litigation due to Title IX and just paid attention the athletic departments?

This does not ever raise the issue of sports management positions and the like.

Courting an athlete is not just a numbers game all the time. This again does not even touch the issue of other positions in sport outside the persons playing them.

Twenty-five years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s life was first honored with a national holiday and nearly 50 years after the civil rights leader's "I Have a Dream" speech, black and white sports fans alike view the sports world as far more racially progressive and unifying than the rest of society, according to a recent online survey conducted for ESPN.

However, there remains a strong racial divide among those fans about the extent to which African-Americans enjoy equal opportunities in sports, as well as about the degrees of prejudice and discrimination that continue to pervade the sports landscape...

Everyone has equal opportunity because it is 100% based on ability. If you're the best you get paid, etc. as the best. There is no bias based on race. The ONLY prejudice in sports is skill as it should be. That is why sports brings races together. Cause it doesn't matter who you are, just what you do. 2009 census bureau records show there to be 65.0% or 199.3 million White Americans (non-latino) and 12.4% or 38.1 million Black Americans. So sports teams are 65% white and 12% black (give or take)? No way! The proportions are much heavier on the Black side. So for me, there's no less-than-equal opportunity for Blacks. Anyone who thinks that minorities (in sports particularly, we can talk other areas in another thread) have a harder road making it in sports is, IMHO, a product of the American education system.

From what experience do you speak? Have you ever earned money in a competitive athletic endeavor?

This above suggests that "skill" is easily measured. If you ain't a prodigy or schlub, determining who gets the contract, scholarship, etc. is very complicated and like most things in life nepotism rules.

Personally, no, I've earned no money via athletics. I do know, however, that athletics is ruled by money. And your sports team makes no money being bad. I find it hard to believe there are many owners who would rather not have blacks on their team then have a big old check in the bank. Skill, when it comes to admittance to a professional sport, is not hard to measure. Sit with any scout for five minutes and they'll rattle off exactly what they're looking for. Especially today with things like sabermetrics, it is very easy to quantify someone's performance. And no, nepotism does not rule sports. Maybe at the youth level but there is too much money at stake in the pros to waste on someone's son.

OK, no experience then.

Have you ever been scouted? I am guessing from the above, not. Have you ever had a sit down with a scout on behalf of an athlete?

Do you know personally any athletes who made their way through college or earn their living professionally and have discussed how "scouting" works and the politicing involved?

Have you ever attended a university scrambling to avoid litigation due to Title IX and just paid attention the athletic departments?

This does not ever raise the issue of sports management positions and the like.

Courting an athlete is not just a numbers game all the time. This again does not even touch the issue of other positions in sport outside the persons playing them.

When did personal experience become a prerequisite when speaking on a matter? And yes my cousin, Stephen McGee, played at Tex A&M and is on the Cowboys now. And I know my brother and his friends who were seriously scouted for baseball. They were a bunch of rich white kids with connections and they weren't good enough. What does Title IX have to do with equal opportunity? That is equal opportunity in the way that affirmative action is, it isn't. It causes more problems than it solves.

The debate is does racial discrimination persist in sports. My opinion based off my experience says no. I don't think saying a front office job given to a low quality nephew is the same debate as to whether a black man can make it playing pro sports vs a white man. Nepotism has nothing to do with race even.

I disagree and think that sports are especially a numbers game the overwhelming majority of the time. There are two goals in playing sports and courting players, to win and to make money. And usually the former is to support the latter.

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Authentic zeal is not directed towards anything but union in Christ, or against anything but our own fallenness.